Patent Document 1 discloses a welding wire feeder. The wire feeder disclosed in this document includes a feed roll and a pressure roll. The feed roll and pressure roll rotate with a welding wire held therebetween. The welding wire is thus fed in a desired direction. Specifically, the pressure roll is attached to a pressure holder, and a base end of the pressure holder is pivotably supported by the feeder body. Meanwhile, a lever portion is provided at a front end of the pressure holder. As a result of this lever portion being pressed by a pressure means (pressure handle), the welding wire is held between the feed roll and pressure roll.
With the above-described conventional wire feeder, the lever portion of the pressure holder can be released by tilting the pressure handle from a given position. In this state, maintenance, such as replacement of the welding wire and the pressure roll, can be performed. On the other hand, when the lever portion of the pressure holder is in a state of being pressed by the pressure handle, the pressure handle extends in a direction that is substantially perpendicular to the wire feed direction. Unfavorably, such pressure handle configuration may be a factor that hinders a reduction in the size of the wire feeder.